The Bulldogs Ground It Out In Route To Victory Against Houston

 

The Bulldogs put on a dominating performance against the Houston Cougars on Saturday night.  Once the game was finally over the score was 47-24 and State had racked up 538 yards of offense.  409 yards of that total was on the ground.  It seemed that everyone was in sync last night and it was nice to beat Houston so badly after the debacle in Starkville against them last year. 

Chris Relf threw for 57 yards but was mostly a factor running the ball.  Relf put up 96 yards on the ground in a game where 8 different players got opportunities to run the ball.  Vick Ballard put up the most rushing yards with 134 but LaDarius Perkins (78 yards), Robert Elliott (43 yards) and even Tyler Russell (40 yards) contributed to the domination on the ground.

The one low spot in the game occurred on the opening kick off of the second half.  Senior receiver Leon Berry broke his leg during the return and most likely will not be back this season.  Its a shame that we lose Berry at this point as it seemed he was just beginning to hit his stride this season.  In last weeks contest against Alcorn State, Berry ran a kickoff return back 97 yards for his first touchdown of the season. 

Also, center J.C. Brignone went down with a sprained left knee in the first quarter, but that injury had little effect on the Bulldog offense for the remainder of the game.  It is not yet known when Brignone will return to action, he's being evaluated this week. 

The Bulldogs are now at 4-2 and in great position to make a bowl game this year.  The remainder of the schedule is packed full of tough SEC competition.  Next week the Bulldogs will travel to the swamp and face off against Coach Dan Mullen's former team in Florida.  It'll be interesting to see how the crowd reacts when he steps onto the field for the first time since 2008.  That 2008 season was capped off with another national championship for the Gators. 

It won't be a cake walk, but the Bulldogs are certainly capable of winning this game.  State is ahead of Florida in average passing yards and rushing yards so far this season.  Florida is currently suffering a two game losing streak so its safe to assume a hungry Urban Meyer will have the team ready to get things turned around this Saturday.  This is a game that Coach Mullen and the Bulldogs want to win very badly and its safe to assume they will be ready to go as well.  Kickoff will be at 6:00 p.m. central time and the game will be televised on ESPNU.